Eddie Bracken
Eddie Bracken (
February 7,
1915 -
November 14,
2002) was an American comic actor. Born in
Astoria, New York, he performed in
vaudeville at the age of nine, and gained fame at an early age on
Broadway in the musical
Too Many Girls, which he reprised in the film version in
1940. He had performed in several "
Our Gang" shorts prior to that, but this film was his big break.
Director Preston Sturges cast him in two of his films, The Miracle of Morgan's Creek and Hail the Conquering Hero, but in 1953 he virtually left Hollywood until returning in the 1980s to perform character roles in such films as National Lampoon's Vacation.
Bracken has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6751 Hollywood Blvd.